Nintendo Is Repairing Left Joy-Cons With ... a Piece of Foam? (polygon.com)

While Nintendo remains silent on the issue of some left Joy-Con controllers becoming desynced from the Switch console, it appears it has a solution for those affected. No, it's not avoidance of aquariums or all other wireless devices; instead, it's apparently as simple as a foam sticker placed in the right spot. From a report: Early reviews and, later, actual retail units of the Nintendo Switch highlighted an apparent hardware flaw in the design of the left Joy-Con controller. In certain scenarios -- like when played some distance from the console using the Joy-Con Grip -- some left Joy-Cons could lose sync and players would find themselves unable to accurately control what's happening on the screen. While a day one console update fixed this issue for some, it's remained for others and Nintendo has done little to assuage would-be consumers that it's solved the issue for good. But, a Joy-Con sent in for repair by CNET's Sean Hollister was returned with one small enhancement a week later and -- lo and behold -- it works. That enhancement: A small piece of conductive foam.

Comments

Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

This is their last console. They'll be going the way of SEGA soon.

There are only so many turds you can keep afloat with endless Zelda and Mario Kart rehashes.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think so. People love Japanese games for some reason. I don't get it. They make zero sense.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare people have opinions that don't carbon copy my own!

Re:Nintendo is done

[BronsCon]

The games won't stop, just the consoles. They'll have to release for 3rd party consoles sooner rather than later or, well, they really are done.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

Different AC here.

The issue isn't that people have different likes and dislikes. That's perfectly fine, and to be expected.

Some people like British comedy. Some people don't. That's normal.

Some people like Brazilian music. Some people don't. That's also normal.

Some people like Thai food. Some people don't. Again, that's normal.

But Japanese media? It's difficult to find any redeeming qualities within it, regardless of who you are and what your tastes are like.

Look at their animation and cartoons. Most of it consists of static, poorly-drawn images that are panned across to give them "movement". Worst of all, this isn't done as a joke, like say the animation of South Park is. The Japanese seriously find such a low quality of animation perfectly acceptable!

Then there is the whole octopus/tentacle molestation aspect of their work. Yes, I understand that they're a seafaring culture that has strict regulations on what they're allowed to depict, but even in those circumstances what they've come up with is inexcusably weird. No other culture has such a strange obsession.

Their comics are basically just their animations, but without the camera panning. They suffer from the same low quality, and the same deviant subject matter.

Most of their video games are the same. The only ones that see any sort of global success are the ones where they tried to copy foreign culture. Donkey Kong is the American King Kong story. Super Mario is a characterization of Italian-Americans from NYC. Mario Kart is American-inspired auto racing combined with the aforementioned characters. Zelda and Link are inspired by European mythology.

The issue with Japanese media is that its quality is really awful, its subject matter is disgusting, it's a rip-off of foreign culture, or it's a horrid combination of all three of those. There's really nothing to like about any of it.

Re:Nintendo is done

[gravewax]

COD, NFL, NCAA, FIFA etc all disagree with you. So far despite the problems this looks like it "could" be one of nintendos most successful consoles. All the major game studios and consoles constantly rehash existing IP, they do it because it SELLS. Having said that I think we are getting towards the end of consoles era anyway with mobiles, tablets and smart TV's etc getting more and more powerful every year. Console landscape will be very very different in another 5 years or so.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Desler]

Excellent troll is excellent. Laughed heartily.

Re:Nintendo is done

[sexconker]

It's considered poor form to reply to your own post just to agree with it or praise it.

Or are you going to claim that that AC posted, you loaded the page after that, read it all, reflected on it, had a chuckle, and decided to post about how you enjoyed that chuckle, all within a 30 post (sitewide) / 5 minute window? HIGHLY UNLIKELY!

Re:Nintendo is done

[Desler]

The post isn't that long to read in 5 minutes. How poor are your reading skills?

Re:Nintendo is done

[Desler]

Just to reply more to this poor attempt at trolling, there's only 311 words in the post above. Even an average reader can read 200 words per minute. sexocnker must me in the bottom quintile of readers if he can't read more than 60 words per minute.

Re:Nintendo is done

[sexconker]

I knew you would come back with this shit. The window includes not just reading the post but the you landing on the story after it was posted, browsing at 0 or -1 to even see it, reading other posts attached to the story before getting to it, finally getting to it, reading it, deciding to reply, and ultimately typing out a response and hitting submit.

I simply don't believe that's gonna happen in less than 5 minutes or before 31 other Slashdot posts are created, especially since you're replying to a bad troll with a pointless post about how it's a good troll. No one takes the effort to praise shitty trolls unless they're the same shitty troll who loves the smell of their own shit.

I caught you, fucking deal with it.

Re: Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

It takes quite some time to read with my Slashdot App!

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

Every single generation since the 64, I swear "NINTENDO IS FINISHED! 3RD PARTY WHEN?" yet, here they are still making consoles. It was funny at one point, now its almost as pathetic as "THIS IS THE YEAR OF LINUX!"

Re:Nintendo is done

[Desler]

Cool story, bruh. Your mommy must be mighty impressed by your shitty reading and detective skills.

Re: Nintendo is done

[Desler]

App appers don't read luddite posts?

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever see anything by Filmation?

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo doesn't work well with others. That's been shown for decades.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Howitzer86]

It's almost not a console. It's a portable with console capabilities - a big game boy - and I love it. Once they get the virtual console and the top tier Nintendo and 3rd party games it'll be even greater.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

Your "evidence" is rather flimsy. Why are you so sure that they're the same people?

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh... here he goes again... posting AC to deflect the TRUTH coming out.

But... does that mean that I'm him now and defending myself from myself?

Re:Nintendo is done

[guises]

Why are they done if they don't release for third parties? The Switch seems to be doing fine, their handhelds have always been big money makers, two generations ago they had the top-selling console and that wound up being one of the best selling consoles ever. Not three years ago they had something like $10 billion in cash reserves, and lackluster Wii U sales haven't cost them anywhere close to that much.

I don't mean to pick on you here, but I see a lot of baseless doom and gloom when it comes to Nintendo and... where the hell does that come from? Why would you, or anyone, think this? Where did you get the idea that they're on the verge of needing to pull a Sega?

Re:Nintendo is done

[BronsCon]

They're not billing the Switch as a handheld, they're calling it a full-blown console with a portable mode, which is precisely what it is. Proof? What console did it replace? The DS? No, the Wii U.

To be honest, this is the first console I've seen from them that made me think they should just leave the hardware market altogether. I had hints of that thought with the Wii, but the execution was interesting and novel, so I went with it. I ended up buying a Wii U, as well, and certainly do not regret it. In all likelihood, though, I'll not be getting a Switch

Almost certainly not, as they've just released a system that is actually less capable than the Wii U it is supposed to replace; the Wii U being a relatively short-lived system, seeing a production run of only 5 years, with support ending rather abruptly at the end. The Switch runs an underclocked Tegra X1 CPU, 4 ARM cores running at 1.02Ghz; the Wii U runs on 3 PPC cores clocked at 1.24Ghz. The switch may have 1 more core, but the cores, overall, are slower once you factor in IPC and several other factors; at best, performance may be comparable. It may have a better GPU, but that's arguable; BotW comparisons I've seen have roughly half favored the Wii U and half favored the Switch. Perhaps if they weren't also severely underclocking the GPU, even when docked? Honestly, the Switch seems more like a regression than an upgrade; single display output only, which rules out games like Super Mario Maker and Mario Party 10's Bowser Party Mode. Keep in mind, SMM was one of the top selling Wii U games. Mario Party may not have been a top seller, but Bowser Party Mode was damn cool, and can't really be done without giving the player playing as Bowser their own screen.

In all, the Switch is a downgrade across the board. It's, flat out, a less capable system than the Wii U. I wouldn't think it a loser if it were replacing one of Nintendo's handhelds, or adding to the handheld lineup; it would be quite the winner at that, but that's not what it is. It's a loser at what it's intended to be: an upgrade to the Wii U.

Re:Nintendo is done

[thegarbz]

I only browse slashdot for the children pissing on each other.

+1 would read thread again.

Re:Nintendo is done

[guises]

Ah, I see. I had read your previous comment as "They need to release for 3rd party consoles (because they'll be insolvent otherwise)" but you meant it as "They should release for 3rd party consoles (because I don't like their hardware)".

Re:Nintendo is done

[BronsCon]

How did you get "I don't like their hardware" out of what I wrote?

Re:Nintendo is done

[guises]

Well... mostly that was just complaining about system performance, along with the lack of a second screen. That's hardware. You also said, "I had hints of that thought with the Wii," for an unexplained reason, even though you also said that it was interesting and novel. So I don't know why you almost didn't like the Wii, but there isn't that much setting consoles apart from one another. Unless you were unhappy about clicking on the little buttons in the Wii menu, it's probably hardware related.

Re:Nintendo is done

[BronsCon]

Well... mostly that was just complaining about system performance

Complaining about system performance? The "upgrade" is less capable than the system it is supposed to replace. That's about as valid a complaint as there can be. That said, I never complained about the performance, I pointed out that, while it would be quite a winner in Nintendo's handheld lineup (e.g. I actually like the hardware), they chose to position it as a replacement for a more capable system. That makes it a loser; it's positioned to be, quite literally, a downgrade.

along with the lack of a second screen

Which, again, would be a non-issue if Nintendo had added the Switch to their handheld lineup, rather than replacing a more capable system. The hardware, for a handheld system, is good; but they're billing it as a console, by which standard it is crap.

Look at it this way: The Geo Metro wasn't a horrible car, for what it was. It was cheap, fuel efficient, and got you from point A to point B. It wasn't built really well and it is obvious that corners were cut, but that was fine because Geo sold it as what it was: cheap transportation. If they had sold it as a sports car, luxury car, or even anything of any quality, it would have been complete crap.

The Switch isn't a horrible system, for what it should have been sold as. It is small, clocked down for power efficiency, and can play games on the go. It isn't built with performance in mind and it is obvious that corners were cut, but that would be fine if Nintendo sold it as what it is; a high-end portable. Instead, they sell is as a full console with portable capabilities and, at that, it is complete crap.

Sorry, it's just a fact that, while it outclasses Nintendo's handhelds, it doesn't come close to the Wii U. I'll repeat myself, once more, so you don't miss it this time: The Switch is a great handheld; it's just a shitty console.

I don't understand why the very same people who, 5 years ago, said the Wii U was underpowered crap are, 5 years later, saying the Switch, which is less powerful than the Wii U, is the freakin' bee's knees. Compared to anything in the DS line, I'd fully agree, the Switch is an awesome bit of gear; but it's not meant to compare with that line, it's meant to compare with the Wii U, and it fails at that.

Re:Nintendo is done

[guises]

All right, now you've lost me. The question that I asked was not, "Why do you dislike the Switch?" it was, "Why are they done if they don't release for third parties?"

I can't follow how anything that you're talking about addresses that question anymore.

Re:Nintendo is done

[BronsCon]

Quite simply, people will realize soon enough that they've been hoodwinked and you can expect their next console not to sell very well if they don't make it absolutely amazing. I don't think that's going to happen, as it's become clear that Nintendo can't make a proper console anymore, something I don't say lightly as it represents the end of an era.

If they don't sell consoles and they're not making games for 3rd party consoles or, at a minimum, licensing IP so others can, how, exactly, do you propose they make money?

Of course, we can argue about this until we're both blue in the face, and we'll both be equally right and wrong based on the information we have available today. Only time will tell how the Nintendo story goes and, as a Nintendo fan, I sincerely hope I am wrong. I know better than to hold my breath for that long, though.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

meathead, if you try to post a few comments as quickly as you claim someone did, as to keep replying to yourself like you claim, slashdot won't let you post for a few minutes. try it, and realize you're retarded all at the same time.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Anonymous Coward]

To be fair, the Switch hardware is crap. In docked mode, the thing performs WORSE than in handheld mode. It's not even 1080p, rather 720p in handheld mode or some oddball 900p resolution in docked mode (and before you ask, yes, you can run at 720p in docked mode and yes, it still runs worse than in handheld mode).

Also the screen is made of plastic. A PLASTIC touchscreen in 2017! Not only will it get scratched to shit, but the official Nintendo dock is designed to scratch it to shit on the left and right hand sides.

Nintendo has almost always had poor designs for their systems, but the Switch is a fucking joke of a console.

Re:Nintendo is done

[Gr8Apes]

Complaining about system performance? The "upgrade" is less capable than the system it is supposed to replace. That's about as valid a complaint as there can be. That said, I never complained about the performance, I pointed out that, while it would be quite a winner in Nintendo's handheld lineup (e.g. I actually like the hardware), they chose to position it as a replacement for a more capable system. That makes it a loser; it's positioned to be, quite literally, a downgrade.

I can think of at least 1 other company that went that route.. **cough** Apple **cough** mini **cough**

Look at it this way: The Geo Metro wasn't a horrible car, for what it was. It was cheap, fuel efficient, and got you from point A to point B. It wasn't built really well and it is obvious that corners were cut, but that was fine because Geo sold it as what it was: cheap transportation. If they had sold it as a sports car, luxury car, or even anything of any quality, it would have been complete crap.

The Geo Metro was maybe 1 step above a Yugo and only maybe slightly less prone to breaking down. Sometimes it is better to not have a particularly bad version of a thing.

I still own a Wii, I saw no reason to "upgrade" to any of their later stuff, as you noted, nothing really compelling about any of them. For me, Wii U didn't float 5 years ago, and nothing has changed in that regard. I mean, I think my 5 year old smartphone in the drawer is a better piece of kit, it just doesn't have the content.

Re:Nintendo is done

[BronsCon]

For me, it was Super Mario Maker that made the Wii U compelling enough to actually buy; but only because I had my eye on the console from launch.

I dunno, maybe we're not serious enough casual gamers to "get it". Yes, I understand the irony of the "serious casual gamer".

What, you want a complex repair?

[Anonymous Coward]

What, is a simple, cost-effective, and suitable repair not sufficient? Do you want a huge, complex, costly repair technique used instead?

You remind me of the "programmers" (I use the term lightly!) who need to a accomplish a simple task, yet build a huge monstrosity using Ruby on Rails and JavaScript that takes a month to finish.

Meanwhile, a real programmer just writes a 10 line Python script that does the exact same thing, and is done within 5 minutes.

It's like you want the expensive, impractical, delayed, Ruby on Rails type of solution when a simple Python script will actually do much better.

Re:What, you want a complex repair?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oblig Fizz Buzz solution.

Re:What, you want a complex repair?

[BronsCon]

Right? The amount of shit I take for spending an hour writing and testing Bash scripts for deployment automation, instead of spending weeks learning and implementing $ci_tool_of_the_day, is insane! In the entirety of my career, I don't think I've spent as long writing and maintaining deployment scripts, for all of my projects, combined, as I'd have spent learning, installing, configuring, tracking down plugins for, testing, and fixing $ci_tool_of_the_day just once. And that, even, is ignoring the fact that, by the time the next project rolls around, $ci_tool_of_the_day will have changed and I'll still take shit for using the old tool on the new project.

Just because something is newer, or bigger, or flashier, or more expensive does not make it better! If you have something old, well-tested, reliable, small, lightweight, efficient, even if it's boring and free, that does the job in less time than another solution, the other solution is not better.

Conductive foam is cheap, it's been around for years, we know its properties, we know how it works, and it solves this problem. Like you, I think Nintendo made the right choice in implementing this fix.

I still think the Switch is an abysmal failure in design, but that's beside the point; this fix is good.

Re:What, you want a complex repair?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oblig 353 forks. GitHub is ShitHub.

Re:What, you want a complex repair?

[TWX]

I hear you on the scripting. I keep thinking I may need to teach myself Expect, but on the other hand I've managed to brute-force my way though well enough with Bash that so far it hasn't actually been necessary.

We constantly have to fight with the property control folks that miss our devices and try to claim we must've pulled 'em. It took a couple of hours to write something that could scan the IP ranges for the switches and build lists, then SSH into the devices to get hostname, model, and serial number. It's not completely perfect yet as I have to go through with sed and clean it up, but I managed to get an organization-wide inventory in about eight hours that I couldn't get Solarwinds Orion to generate for me come hell or high water.

This isn't supposed to be that hard, but it seems like everyone wants to make it hard and then claim that's their value-add part.

Re:What, you want a complex repair?

[ameoba]

As they say, "if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid".

Re: What, you want a complex repair?

[Anonymous Coward]

People who use gradle/maven/ant instead of a simple makefile, just so that if your code compiles today, it wont compile tomorrow because some student in romania wrote some new code that has to be pulled down from the net...

Re: What, you want a complex repair?

[TWX]

What bothers me about that is in the BSD universe, "make world" could recompile the whole damn thing without having to do something like pull code that may or may not still be available...

Re:What, you want a complex repair?

[ilsaloving]

No! You are wrong! You are using OLD technology, which makes it automatically inferior to the framework that came out just this week! Oh, it has bugs? That's fine, we'll just reimplement the solution with the new framework that invariably comes out the following week!

This 'new is good old is bad' is so completely wrong, and yet it's so hard to fight against because the entire thing is based on emotional needs and desires rather than reality. And then people are surprised that modern day software is demonstrably worse than stuff written a decade or two ago, and is continuing to get worse than that.

Re:What, you want a complex repair?

[BronsCon]

It's one of the leading factors behind my motivation to stop working for someone else and start working for myself. After almost 3 years, the workload has increased to the point where I'm getting ready to build a team; my biggest fear is that I won't be able to find anyone who knows how to use what works.

Re:What, you want a complex repair?

[ilsaloving]

Worse is when clients actively insist that you want to use whatever technology du jour.

"Oooh oooh! I've heard this mongo db thing is amazing! I want to use that!"
"But... we're writing a financial application where data integrity is cri...."
"MONGODB DAMMIT"

I don't know, are they?

[wonkey_monkey]

Nintendo Is Repairing Left Joy-Cons With ... a Piece of Foam?

Are you asking a question or making a statement?

Slashdot is... going down the toilet?

Re:I don't know, are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are most millenials a bunch of uptalking imbeciles?

Re:I don't know, are they?

[aardvarkjoe]

Slashdot is... going down the toilet?

Nah, that happened long ago.

Now it's coming back up.

Re:I don't know, are they?

[drew_kime]

Slashdot is... going down the toilet?

Slashdot is ... quoting the headline of the source article?

Yeah, let's go with that one.

Re:I don't know, are they?

[David_Hart]

Nintendo Is Repairing Left Joy-Cons With ... a Piece of Foam?

Are you asking a question or making a statement?

Slashdot is... going down the toilet?

You might want to read it again, but this time read it like this "Nintendo Is Repairing Left Joy-Cons With ... a Piece of Foam. Really??"

See... when read like this it's a statement of amazement that something relatively minor and simple could fix, what seems to be, a technical problem. Most people would expect that a technical problem like this would require a technical fix. For example, soldering on a new antenna, etc. So, the title author used the question mark as a placeholder for a modifier that shows amazement.

This is a common enough writing technique that I'm surprised that anyone would have a hard time understanding its use...

Re:I don't know, are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

But Slashdot ... is a steaming turd?!!

Re:I don't know, are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

Most people expect that conductive foam placed right on top can't change the properties of an antenna?

Most people never walked by a FM radio?

Re:I don't know, are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a common writing technique, yes - one that I would prefer Slashdot not to use.

We have shitty clickbait headlines on almost every website. Slashdot could choose to distinguish itself by not playing that game. Many here wish that they would abandon the "excited teenager" style of prose in favor of clear statements of facts.

Re:I don't know, are they?

[jediborg]

to be fair... the linked article has the same title?

Re:I don't know, are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

> Slashdot is... going down the toilet?

They're using Polygon as a source ... so yes.

Re:I don't know, are they?

[sconeu]

Christopher Walken is... writing the headlines?

Re: I don't know, are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

FM radio? Haha granpa shits in diapers haha.

Re:I don't know, are they?

[TeknoHog]

Slashdot is... going down the toilet?

No, because Betteridge.

Re:I don't know, are they?

[Razed By TV]

This is a common enough writing technique that I'm surprised that anyone would have a hard time understanding its use...

Yes, yes, but that's pretty much been the viral clickbait trend that won't die.
"You won't believe how THIS asshole got 1 million viewers on his website!"
"Lose 100 pounds by eating THIS! {picture of unidentifiable fruit}"
"Wow, Nintendo fixed their new console with FOAM!"

God forbid you put the word "conductive" in front of foam, lest you make things sound intelligent and scare away readers!
Tomorrow I get to hear dumbass radio jock tell the world about fixing electronics with foam. And then I'll get to hear my coworkers talk about how they wonder why nobody used foam to fix things sooner, because foam has been around forever, right?

Re: I don't know, are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

What? You don't even have a smartphone? If you ask really nicely, perhaps mommy and daddy will get you one for whatever religious holiday I am certain that you celebrate.

Re:I don't know, are they?

[DraconPern]

Let me answer everything in your post?

yes?

Re:I don't know, are they?

[Z80a]

Well, given the fact its a link to bloody kotaku instead of the actual source...

Re:I don't know, are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bingo!

Conductive Foam is being used in lieu of, say, golden conduits. It's effective, lighter, and cost effective.
And you're right, highlighting the word foam over anything else DOES give the impression it's a 'puffy & insulative' fix. I guess those readers did not RTFA :)

Uh, people...

[__aaclcg7560]

Don't play Nintendo in front of your aquariums. You're giving fishes the wrong impression about humanity.

std repair

[Anonymous Coward]

Put a condom on your dick.

~ TRUMP vindicated ~

[Anonymous Coward]

Spied by N$A.

Found the LUDDITE!

[Anonymous Coward]

ONLY apps can app apps, NOT LUDDITE video games!

Apps!

Re:Found the LUDDITE!

[Anonymous Coward]

The games will soon be APPS!

Oh, I know this one!

[Anonymous Coward]

Betteridge says no, right?

captcha: whimsies

This is why i didn't buy day 1

[jediborg]

Statement from nintendo: "A manufacturing variation has resulted in wireless interference with a small number of the left Joy-Con. Moving forward this will not be an issue, as the manufacturing variation has been addressed and corrected at the factory level. We have determined a simple fix can be made to any affected Joy-Con to improve connectivity."

This is why i'm waiting for a 'Switch lite' or 'Switch SP', or 'NEW Switch XL' to be released before buying the console. Releasing this console in march was basically Nintendo doing a 'soft-launch' this way they sell out day one, knowing all the die hard fanboys will buy it day one, and they get to work out the kinks in the hardware before the holiday season when they have the 'Real Launch' or 'Grand Opening' of the device with less manufacturing defects, and can ensure they have adequate supply for the people who will buy it during holiday season.

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[arth1]

Moving forward this will not be an issue

Right. It's moving right that's the issue.

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[dristoph]

I preordered mine and played the new Zelda from day one. No regrets, haven't seen the sun since, never been happier.

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[Anonymous Coward]

+1 to this.

115 Hours just on Breath of the Wild in 2 weeks and no problems with my Nintendo Switch which I use in the dock with a pro controller and handheld mode.

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[DigiShaman]

Back in the day, we rarely had these problems with first day console released hardware. And when we had them, it was using bleeding edge technology (original Gameboy LCD screen recall). Where the hard break from this trend ended and began was after the 5th generation and beginning of the 6th generation consoles. It continues to this day. Software follows a similar pattern, but more egregious with the advent of the Internet; with the idea it can be patched later with quick delivery. In fact, auto-update is now expected in apps. But there's no excuse for sloppy electronic engineering and manufacturing; not in the year 2017 FFS!!!

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[thegarbz]

That's nice. But for those of us who aren't Zelda fans that launch titles are an epic bore. I'm just waiting for some decent games to become available before I buy it.

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[Anonymous Coward]

This is why i'm waiting for a 'Switch lite' or 'Switch SP', or 'NEW Switch XL' to be released before buying the console

All of which won't be changes to the hardware compared to the original Switch. Which means new opportunities for 'manufacturing variations'. What you want to do is get any version of Switch but only 3-6 months after release.

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not *just* sloppy engineering. Bleeding edge at the time was still quaintly simple by comparison to today's hardware.

A monochrome LCD with 320x200 resolution simply CAN NOT have as many potential failure modes as a modern 16m color 1080x768 LCD panel.

A single core mips cpu running at 200,000 cycles a second CAN NOT have as many potential failures as a quad core system on a chip running at 2,100,000 cycles a second.

4 AWG26 wires simply CAN NOT fail in as many ways as multiplexed microwave pulses.

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[Anonymous Coward]

It is smart to wait. Maybe like Microsoft they fired all their QA dept which is why there are so many issues hmm.

If you look at any of the tear down sites. The memory and battery are very obvious upgrade points. Also fixing the issues with screen scratching from the dock, heat dissipation, charge point set at the bottom edge of the unit so it can't charge while using it in a kick stand position, and several other reported issues.

This company has had plenty of experience opportunities with portable devices, it is more than disappointing to see so many issues that should have been avoided.

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[jediborg]

Actually back in the day, this happened just as often, if not MORE often. I remember having to blow into Nintendo cartridges, and their loading slot was an obvious design failure, one they would fix.... 6 years later. Today the consumers would be complaining on-line within weeks, Nintendo would have to release a statement within the month promising to fix the issue. And no less than 2 months later we would have NES consoles with manufacturing improvements and 6 months later we would have an NES with a top-loading slot instead of a side-loading one to avoid the issue of misalignment altogether.

Here is a picture of the NES i am talking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... It was released in 1993. I am arguing that if the original NES came out today, we would get the top-loading model in 6 months, not 6 years later.

So really this is a trend of IMPROVING consumer device development, not an appalling lack of competence on behalf of Nintendo

Re:This is why i didn't buy day 1

[DigiShaman]

How many times did the XBOX get recalled and redesigned to address the RROD? How many times did Sony address the CD lens issue in the PS1 and PS3? I'll grant you that the NES was long overdue for a product revision due to a design flaw in the cartridge slot, but I still stand behind my original statement of this predominantly being a Gen5 to Gen6 issue.

Thanks

[Neuronwelder]

Be thankful.. next time they will be 2 matchsticks. (Race to the bottom never ends!)

RROD and overheating processors

[phorm]

A lot of early fixes for RROD and overheating processors included some pretty simple solutions
a) A strong "clamp" or a copper shim to more tightly hold the GPU on, so that it wouldn't come loose when the solder heated up
b) Changing the fan behavior to be more aggressive to keep the device cooler

There were a lot of people offering services to fix early XBoxes and all it really involved was heating things up so that the chip would slip back in better, then jamming a nice thick piece of copper in place to hold the chip on tighter while still conducting heat away.

Re:RROD and overheating processors

[SylvesterTheCat]

Yes. My Dell XPS M1330 (going on memory on the model as that was a few years ago) had problems with the Nvidia GPU and heat. The system fan would almost always run on high. There were also many mb failures reported. I put a copper shim between the GPU and the heat sink.

I used a copper tube strap for copper pipes from Menards. Pounded it flat and cut a piece to size.

Ta-da. Problem solved.

Re:RROD and overheating processors

[jjthegreat]

Was the GPU a 7900? I had the same problem along with screen corruption. Solution was to remove the entire GPU unit and bake it in the oven for 20 mins at 450deg. The solder reflowed and it was OK again for another year. Was a really bad design.

Re:RROD and overheating processors

[Anonymous Coward]

The DIY temporary fix was to wrap the 360 up in a towel and cook it until the GPU solder flowed back.

FM Radio Workaround

[fabioalcor]

Looks like the workaround we used to use in FM radios back in the day, when reception was poor: a piece of steel wool in the antenna works like a charm!

And .. it works.

[Guybrush_T]

Completely oriented and clickbait title.

Yes, it's foam ... so what ? First, it's not basic foam, it is conductive foam. Second, it fixes the issue.

I call that an elegant solution.

Making Senses

[n329619]

People love Connecting Candies in a Row for some reason. I don't get it. It makes zero sense.

People love Shooting Dead People and Yell on The Screen for some reason. I don't get it. It makes zero sense.

People love to Run Around as a Goat and Lick Random Objects for some reason. I don't get it. It makes zero sense.

Did you know Mario is a pumper who did everything except for fixing pumps? Welcome to not Planet Earth.

Re:Making Senses

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy shit, go learn how to speak English or go back to the third-world shithole you came from.

RF is hard

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds about right. RF design is really hard, sometimes the right thing being grounded (better), or just a smidge closer or farther to the emitter can make a world of difference.
It just gets worse as you go up in wavelength. At 2.4Ghz, a full wavelength is only 12½ cm, and only a 16th of a wavelength (and sometimes even less) can matter.

-KJ4IPS

(Posting as AC due to lazy)

Actually real.

[DrYak]

now its almost as pathetic as "THIS IS THE YEAR OF LINUX!"

Yeah, go tell that to your smartphone (a huge proportion are running Android, which is running on Linux, though not on GNU userland), and/or your tablet, and to the wireless router/modem they are connecting to (it's almost impossible to find one which is not running Linux + Busybox nowadays). Not even speaking about your TV set (most SmartTV firmwares are running Linux).
Even the Intel Management Engine (the small always-on microcontroller inside the motherboard of your laptop/worktation that is used to remote adminsitration in enterprises) runs some Linux variants.

You're literally interacting daily with dozens of devices running the Linux kernel without even noticing it.

Seriously, it's been the "year of linux on everything except your desktop" for ages ago.

I swear "NINTENDO IS FINISHED! 3RD PARTY WHEN?" yet, here they are still making consoles.

Even if they are not droping their still very profitable console business, Nintendo is slowly expending to other hardware. (See their "Pokemon" IP showing up on smartphone apps - though this one was done through an external studio, Nintendo basically only providing the IP)